No Need for Paternity Testing
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Set post Bone Yard. Kate challenges Tony and Tony forgets all about what happened to McGee. Ouch. Tate, with a little implied GAbby.


Disclaimer: Not mine. Duh.

A/N: "Out of curiosity, why do you ask?" "Because suddenly I look back and there is somebody there." One of the best set of comedy lines I've ever heard. Gotta love the Princess Bride. Anyhow, I just saw Bone Yard, and I thought there was just too much potential for Tate. I mean, come on, the paternity clinic? That was classic and cute. And, to make Jenni happy, I'll try to work in some GAbby. Have fun!

**No Need for Paternity Testing**

"Hey, Tony."

"Yeah, Kate?" Tony swiveled in his chair.

"You still teasing McGee about being beaten by a girl?"

"Uh, yeah." Tony's tone of voice suggested that it was a stupid question with an obvious answer.

Kate smirked at him. "It's lunch time. Want to prove that you're more…" she raked her gaze up and down his figure, "manly than he is?"

Tony's eyebrow went up. "Is that a challenge, Kate?"

Her smile was angelic, and it made his heart skip a beat. "Of course it is."

Thirty minutes later, Kate had already flattened Tony twice. She had him pinned down, face first, arm twisted painfully back over his shoulder, her knees on either side of his body. "Ready to give up yet, Tony?"

He grinned cheekily up at her as best he could. "Of course not." He managed to flip out from under her and get her into the same position McGee had achieved earlier. Being Tony, he only concentrated on the fact that he'd gotten the upper hand, completely forgetting the way she'd gotten out of it earlier. "You know Kate, I'm not saying that men are superior to women, be we genetically have more upper body strength. You just can't fight genetics."

Kate blinked, looking innocent. If Tony hadn't been congratulated himself, he would have realized that the expression meant trouble. "No, I guess you can't. But you can use it. You see…" she brought her knee up hard into his groin. He rolled off of her and curled up on the floor. She propped herself up, tilting to one side so that she was leaning over him. "Genetics gave guys this one handy weak spot easy to exploit, and I saw you checking me out with McGee this morning, and a lot of other times, too. You're not any better than he is, really. At least he has the decency to be honest about it and look out of curiosity, not out of some sort of wish to get into my pants."

"Yeah." His voice was strained.

Kate was instantly contrite. "Oh, god, Tony, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but you set yourself up for the same thing that got McGee." She was now practically hanging over him, her face a mask of concern.

Wincing, he straightened out his legs. "Well, then, you have to take McGee next time."

"What?"

"To the paternity clinic. It can't be mine, I don't think I'm going to be able to have children."

Kate grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, it was a bit hard. You just pissed me off so much lately…"

He pushed himself up on his elbows, not seeming to notice that this put him about two inches from Kate's face. "Well, it's a guy thing."

"Those pesky genetics again?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess." He managed a smile.

Kate laughed and stood up, holding out a hand to help Tony up. He didn't even try to pull her down, just let himself be jerked upwards until he could stand on his own. "I shouldn't have taken you up on that challenge."

She smiled. "Well, you had to learn sometime, DiNozzo. Hey, to make up for that whole… groin injury thing, let me buy you a sandwich."

Tony pretended to consider for a moment. "Hmmm… let me think." His grin was so big Kate thought she'd go blind. "Did you just ask me out?"

One eyebrow went up. Way up. "No, DiNozzo, I just asked if you wanted a sandwich. Of course, if you aren't interested…"

He held up a hand. "No, no, that's good. You aren't getting out of it that easy."

She whacked him on the arm. "You should learn not to fight with people who used to be secret service agents. We bullet-sponges are also good at hitting."

He rubbed the spot she'd smacked, then slung an arm around her shoulders. "Kate, Kate, Kate. Whenever will you learn? It was all just an excuse to get you under me." Amazingly, Kate didn't kill him for that. Instead, she laughed.

"Right, Tony. And I challenged you because I wanted to have you above me. Isn't that such a coincidence. Where should we go for lunch?"

"How about that place Abby and Gibbs have been talking about?"

They walked out onto the street like that, ignoring the looks of various other acquaintances unused to the displays of affection from any members of the seemingly untouchable NCIS team. It had been bad enough when Gibbs and Abby had begun dating. Gibbs, interestingly enough, didn't have a problem with public demonstrations of how much he loved Abby, and it wasn't long before people started betting on whether he'd kiss her the next time they exited together.

"Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah, Kate?"

"You didn't do too badly. You just forgot about what I did to McGee. I don't know why, cause you actually warned him about me this morning."

Tony winced. "I did, didn't I?"

Kate mock gasped. "Tony DiNozzo admitting he was wrong about something? That's new."

Tony leaned down and kissed her cheek gently, completely ignoring the stares this got. "Only for you, Kate. Only for you."

Kate blushed. Fighting down her natural reaction to slug him for invading her personal space like that, she stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then whisper in his ear. "Thanks. Guys who can admit they're wrong are sexy." Then, continuing on down the sidewalk, she called back to him, standing shocked on the pavement. "Now, how about that food? I'm starving."

He had to run to catch up.

A/N: Review, please. Ok, sorry Jenni, there wasn't much GAbby, but I tried. My brain is just hardwired for Tate, not GAbby. It doesn't come as naturally. Hope you still liked it!


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